Before you jump out of your seats, no, we didn't get him loaded today, but we made a lot of progress in that direction.
I enlisted the help of Joni, Alicia's Mom, to spot me when I took Doc out in the open for the first time. She was a big help in protecting him from the mares as I walked him through their paddock. He went through the gate like a brave soldier, and we even took a nice stroll down the driveway to the house. When I took him over to check out some fresh grass, he started getting frisky in the soft ground. He did rear up and turn away from me, but not so much as I would lose control. I just let him have some rope while I got in a better position to bring him back to me. He was still very good about coming right back to me after a little excitement. I was a little too close for comfort on one of his excited bucks.... No harm done, but I was lucky. Lesson learned. I was really glad I had the 22' line anyway!
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| Our first taste of freedom! |
One sad fact: He doesn't have the slightest idea of what to do with fresh grass. On one of our breaks, I led him over to the grass to graze, and he did eventually nibble on it, but then he didn't seem to know how to chew it. It was very strange to watch. Poor baby.
Trailer loading was easier than expected in many ways, but also much more tedious. It was easier because Doc read the rule book. He didn't do much pulling away, and seemed to understand that we wanted him to go forward when we drove his shoulder or hind end. He also kept himself pretty straight when we were asking him to move forward. He was, however, very reluctant to take that fateful first step onto the ramp. I worked with him, off and on pretty steadily, for about 3 hours before Alicia came home and lent a hand. He did step onto the corner of the ramp during my session with him, but only as he was on the move away from the trailer.
Alicia had more success. He stepped up onto the ramp with one foot two times for her! We called it a day after the second step up. Way to go Alicia!
Tomorrow will be another day, and we will take as long as it takes to get all four feet in there.
After our lesson, Doc came to the house and hung out with the family as we stood around and talked. He is really coming out of his shell, and had to investigate every family member to make sure they belonged. I remember when he didn't want to be anywhere near humans. It is fun to see all of the changes in him, and his personality to start to show through.
Here are his legs today:
~Jackie
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